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Security forces are still searching for two Finns and an Austrian who were kidnapped, presumably by Al Qaida linked gunmen, in the capital on Friday.

A security official had last week warned that Al Qaida had threatened to kidnap foreigners and to stage bank hold-ups if the authorities fail to release members of an imprisoned network.

Hundreds of people have been abducted in Yemen over the past 15 years, many of them by members of the country’s powerful tribes who use them as bargaining chips in disputes with the authorities.

Almost all have been freed unharmed.

But Al Qaida is also held responsible for abductions in Yemen, including that of a Saudi diplomat, Abdullah Al Khalidi, who remains in the hands of the extremist network since his kidnapping on March 28 in Aden.